Peak power supply shortage below 1,000 MW for four days

KOLKATA: For the last four days in consecution, peak power supply shortage in India has been consistently below 1,000 MW for the first time ever.

This, however, has been a result of falling demand over the same period which also resulted in half the power offered for sale at power exchanges remaining unsold.

Recently, there have been instances of power deficit being less than 1000 MW but those have been one off instances. Between October 29 and November 1, the peak demand deficit hovered between 649 MW and 830 MW.

In fact, this year peak demand shortages hovered below 2000 MW even when demand had touched 150,000 MW. In contrast, the defcit used to be at least 5000 mw last year.

“In papers we are close to attaining zero power deficit and large number of states record zero deficit for days on, however, distribution companies are still to buy the adequate volume of power for everyone.

Financial crunch with discoms have been a stumbling block in attaining a real zero deficit. The centre’s scheme UDAY is a step to solve the issue,” said an analyst on condition on anonymity.

According to data released by the National Load Despatch Centre – the pan India body that takes care of power flow in the country, demand declined from about 130,000 mw to 1,30,000 during the four days in which power deficit fell below 1000 mw.

In fact, during these four days, only about 50% of the power offered for sale at the power exchanges found buyers even at prices as low as Rs 2 per unit or less.

“To save the environment and to fight climate change, my government has planned a major campaign. By 2022, we want to generate 175 GW of renewable energy. In the last three years, we have already achieved 60 GW or around one-third of this target,” he said.